Mom's Favorite Summertime Sanity Savers: Part 1

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There are so many times during the school year I just think "I can't WAIT for summer to get here!". Then summer break arrives and after roughly four weeks I'm wishing for school to start up again.  Anyone else in the same boat?!

Over time we've figured out some great strategies to make our summers go a little smoother and be more enjoyable for us all! Check out the first 4 of 8 of our Summertime Sanity Savers.

Adorable, Quick and Easy Valentine Box

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching.  Are you ready?

I'm rarely fully ready for any of the holidays, but this one always seems to sneak up on me.  Yeah, because you know it's never on the same day each and every year. {There goes that sarcasm again.}

A couple of years ago I was completely unprepared.  There was so much going on at the time and making a box to for my kids' Valentine's to go into just seemed like a complete waste of time and energy.  And that year Baby #3 was taking some pretty nasty chemo, so energy was really low. Thankfully, I have some really amazing friends and neighbors that look out for me my kids.

So, armed with gifted stickers, the kids and I started looking around the house for a box to decorate.  Should have been an easy enough search, but we came up with nothing.  Then one of the kids spotted (one of the many) Huggies wipe boxes in the living room.   Using very little in terms of time and supplies, we were able to come up with some pretty cute boxes to sit on the kids' desks at school to contain all their little friends' Valentine's Day cards.

While it's a simple and really fast project, it gets the job done.  Plus, it's durable and can be reused for several years.  (Making me seem more prepared than I actually am.  Bonus!!)

Cutting the center rubber out of the center despencer area to make it easier for little people to put those cute V Day cards inside the box. 

If you really want to get fancy, decoupage the outside with some pretty scrapbook papers and stickers.  The sky is the limit with these little gems, so have fun and be creative!  Plus, if you decide to make one of your own, please post a picture on my Facebook page.  I love seeing other people's creativity!

Keep loving Life!

Tips & Tricks Link Party #33

It's that time again, friends!  Things are really turning toward fall around here and the party is no different.  Glad you could join us this week!

1) Kathleen & Heather - Fearlessly Creative Mammas

2) Karissa - A Fresh Start

3) Krysta - KrystaSteen.com

4) Heather - Stringtown Home

5) Gabby - Not Too Shabby Gabby

6) Jessica - My Life By Jess

Here's a quick recap of last week's party.

Most Clicked:

Harvest Home Tour from Fearlessly Creative Mammas

Features:

Kathleen and Heather: Pumpkin Pie Smoothie from Krysta Steen

Gabby: Caramel Apple Crisp Pie from Angels Homestead

Krysta: Pumpkin Spiced Muffins from Eat Drink and Save Money

Heather: Fall Home Tour from Lilac Drive Designs

Jessica: How to Make a Burlap Wreath from Logan Can


Now it's your turn to link up and share your latest project, recipe, tip, or anything else you want!  Can't wait to see what shows up this week!

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<a href="http://fearelsslycreativemammas.com" title="Fearlessly Creative Mammas"><img src="http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh572/heatherfillyawgraham/tips%20amp%20tricks%20linky%20party%20button_zps2bfzy3mb.jpg" alt="Stringtown Home" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

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<a href="http://fearlesslycreativemammas.com" title="Fearlessly Creative Mammas"><img src="http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh572/heatherfillyawgraham/i%20was%20featured%20on%20tips%20amp%20tricks%20button_zpshsrgakv6.jpg" alt="Fearlessly Creative Mammas" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

An InLinkz Link-up

Easy Way to Bag Rose Bush Clippings

Fall is just around the corner. I can feel it .... even though it's been above 90 degrees so far all this week. So the temperature hasn't cooled off much yet, it's still the beginning of September. Getting a head start on the outside clean up work seems appropriate, so I hit the front flowerbeds. (Either that or I'm just looking for something different than cleaning another bathroom... again!)

The flower beds have really gotted out of hand this summer. Both Knockout rose bushes I have LOVE where they are and grow like crazy. Big bonus since they fill the space and give us color all summer long. Downside?  It's always a challenge getting all the clippings in the yard bags and ready for trash day pickup. Those thorns hurt, friends!

Yesterday I had an 'aha' moment! 

Here's what I did:

Take one yard waste bag and open it up with some scissors. 

Lay it out close to where the clippings will be cut.

Start piling up the clippings within the bounds of the bag. 

Now you can roll one edge over the thorn filled clippings and really squish it all down. 

This step can be done several times until you feel like you have as much in the bag as possible.  The layers of paper the bag is made of helped add some much needed protection from thorns.

Next and final step will more than likely require an assistant. 

Gather up your nicely rolled up full bundle of stickery clippings and slide it into another (intact) yard waste bag. It was a little tricky getting it all tucked in and started- kinda like getting tights on a toddler.  But, once started, the rest of it just slides right in. 

No one to help lend a hand? Have some twine on hand and tie the bundle at both ends. This would hold it all together. Then lay it on the ground and work the second bag around one end and up the bundle of clippings. 

Try it out and let me know how it works for you! 

Getting Organized for School: Part 3

In Part 1, I covered some lessons I've learned that will hopefully help anyone who has kids in school to some degree.

In Part 2, I shared the calendar methods that have been working out best for our family.

Today I'm sharing a few miscellaneous tricks we've implemented around the house to keep me on top of school things.

Posted Notes

I used to use Post Its on the front door for little reminders to myself.  The idea had merit, but there were just a couple of things that limited it:  they fell off the door every once in a while,  I was going through a lot of Post Its, and the kids could easily remove them.

I had this really cute Roommates Dry Erase Calendar for another project, and had yet to use it.

I still have the calendar waiting for me to get to that other project, but the little word bubbles and circles have taken the place of my Post It notes.  

I purposely put them up higher than what the kids can reach.  Since I'm tall, it's no problem for me to write on them.  (For those of you vertically challenged, arrange yours accordingly.)  

Since there are five kids in our family, one circle is used for each kid/grade with one circle devoted to school wide events.  

This is such a small thing, but it's saved my bacon more than a few times.  The quick reminder that a permission slip needs to be turned in or a lunch made in a paper bag for a field trip or that it's pajama day keeps me looking like a rockstar mom and keeps the tears off my kids' faces (and mine).  There have been lots of tears in the past, too, people!

Email

This has been a HUGE game changer for me!  Not about just getting emails from the teachers and school - we all probably have this happening.  It's the fact that I devoted a single email account to school stuff and nothing but school stuff.  

It takes only minutes to set a new account up.  I decided to use Gmail, since that's what I'm used to, it's easy to use, and I can receive the mail on my phone app.  

Now, if you decide to do this, which I highly recommend, don't use it for anything other than school.  That would completely defeat the purpose of this email account.  Keep it for school, and only school communications: teachers, school district news, and other parents.  That way the important stuff doesn't get buried under junk emails.  Also, make sure to clean out the older emails periodically to avoid clutter.

All of these organizing tips that I've shared are easy to implement at any stage in the game.  My oldest is in middle school and I just started most of these things in the past two years.  I'm hoping that my stumbling along all these years will help all of you be able to get a handle on school organization long before your oldest gets to middle school or beyond!

Share any ideas you have with the rest of us at My Life by Jess on Facebook!  

Have a great weekend!!

Creating Extra Drying Space for Laundry Day

I'm pretty inconsistent around here when it comes to laundry.  I'm either doing load after load in one day (because I've put it all off waaaayyyy too long) or I'm doing a couple loads a day (because I've vowed to never again let it get out of control again..... um..... again).   One thing that is always consistent is I never have enough space to hang the clothes to let them dry.

I got this little contraption from Costco last year and it has helped - especially for all those pants I need to dry but don't want to put on hangers.

All the overflow inevitably goes in doorways.  While that works nicely, all the doorways that have trim around them are to rooms that require privacy multiple times during the day.

 And I have to fix this multiple times a day.....

I stumbled upon such an easy and low cost solution it's crazy!

Tension rods!

You know the ones you used for a shower curtain?  We actually had two in our house not being used. (I'm beginning to think I'm on the edge of hoarding.)  When I stumbled upon them one laundry day, the light bulb went off.  I found a couple of areas that were mostly out of the way, put the rods up, and proceeded to hang clothes.

No more having to pick clothes up off the floor {as much} for me.  Plus, these are very easily relocated if needed.

Laundry day just got a little easier! (And that's always a good thing!)

What do you do to help you on laundry day?

Recycling Made (A Little) Easier

Do you recycle?  I'll be honest and tell you I don't normally think to.  I'm so used to just lobbing anything and everything in the trash.

Several months (a year?) ago, I was visiting a friend and saw a brown paper bag sitting out.  Guess what was in it.  Yep - all the family's recycling.  We've now implemented the same (genius) plan.

If you don't want the bag just sitting out, it's small enough to fit under a sink or such.  The biggest things I like about this?

-My 5 year old can now 'take out' the recycling without damaging the walls or door frame with the clunky recycle bin.

-No more individual trips to the outside bin for small items.

-The whole bag can go in the outside bin and we just start filling another bag as needed.

So, how do you gather your recycling?  Do you have another way you could share with us all?  Feel free to comment below!

Also, if you haven't liked my Facebook page, come on over and do that!  That way you can keep up with all my antics and projects I don't blog about - just remember to check the 'Get Notifications' so you won't miss anything!

Graham Cracker Crust Made Easy

We had company this weekend.  Great company.

The menu for the night?  Potato Soup, 2 Bean Chicken Chili, all the fixin's, Fresh Fruit, Blackberry Cobbler and Cherry Delight.

All easy enough and super yummy.

It was the first time I used my food processor to make a homemade pie crust.  My kids that were standing around watching were quick to let me know that Nonnie (my mother) does this better.  Even though they were right, I still felt very accomplished once finished.

Next on my to-do list was making the Cherry Delight which has a graham cracker crust.  This is my least favorite crust to make because it's time consuming and messy.  You know - putting the crackers in a gallon size bag and pounding away with either my fists or rolling pin.  But, since it's one of our family's favorite recipes - guess that make's it a labor of love.

So, after making one dessert, I was dreading moving on to the next dessert.  Until I had an 'AHA!' moment while cleaning up my food processor.  If I could make pie crust dough in it, why couldn't I make my graham cracker crust with the help of the food processor?

And it worked!!!  Yay!

Just add your graham crackers to your food processor.

Pulse for a couple of seconds.

Add your melted butter.

Pulse for a couple more seconds until well blended.

Now all you have to do is spread the mixture in a pie pan of your choice.

EASY!!

So, is this something everyone else has been doing for years and I'm just late to the party?  Or do you have another way to make crushing the graham crackers super easy?

Family Scrabble Picture

I really like crafting.  Did you know that?  I mean, I really like crafting.

But unfortunately, I didn't do many handmade gifts this Christmas.  Maybe next year (or this year?), but November and December were just way too busy to try and get much done in the crafting department.

I did get one handmade gift in.  I loved doing this!  It turned out just like I had hoped, and I think the recipients liked it, too.

I was able to get 12 grandkids' names and a few extra words fit.  Limited places if there are any more kids born.  {Keep that in mind Melissa.}

The project took two games to complete because of the letters needed.  The frame is a simple shadow box purchased from Joann's Fabrics and Crafts.  Letters are hot glued onto the board and then the board is hot glued onto the back ground of the frame.  Very simple construction.

TIP 1:  When purchasing a second set of letters or a whole game, make sure the tiles are the same.  Mixing tiles from an older game and newer game will be glaringly evident.  Not a pretty finished product.

TIP 2:  When using hot glue, place the glue no the back of the letter tiles and not on the board.  This will help eliminate the strings of glue on your finished project.  You could also use wood glue, rubber cement, or something similar.

TIP 3:  Shop around for games and tiles.  I found my second game at a local thrift store.  If you prefer, extra tiles by themselves can be purchased through Amazon.com.  (See Tip 1 when making purchase.)

TIP 4:  Be prepared to play around a little with the word placement when doing this project.  It helps to get all your words planned, make sure you have enough tiles for all the words you want, and then start placing them on the board.

TIP 5- Walk away.  Seriously.  There are going to be times when it gets really frustrating.  You will have several words or just that ONE LAST WORD that won't fit anywhere.  This is the perfect time to take a 10 minute break.  It's amazing what new ideas will come about after a coffee or snack break.

The projects using this game fascinate me for some reason.  I have several projects pinned with the Scrabble game theme just waiting for me to find the time to do them.  One day.....

Owl Themed Birthday Party

We recently had a little girl turn 8 in our family.  {Wow!}  And, it's the policy in our home to have a birthday party when an eighth birthday rolls around.

Now, you would think at this age a little girl would go for Frozen, Princess or any other number of girly themes.  Not this one.  She has been obsessed with OWLS since she got this hat over two years ago,

 and her mind was set.

So, here's how we do Owl....

Decor:

We also had several stuffed owls on table tops to help decorate.

Food:
Owl Fruit Tray-

Owl S'mores

Owl Cupcakes

Craft:

Corner Bookmark

We really had a lot of fun with it all.  These were all super simple things to do.  Because of that, I was able to have a lot of help from the kids.

My 10 year old Caroline was in charge of finishing the smores after I split the marshmallows.

Madi took care of separating the Oreo cookies for the cupcakes.

Once I got the kids all started on the craft, they were able to be turned loose to create.

Even our almost 5 year old was able to make his own bookmark.  Googly eyes are a must.

Head on over to Pinterest and see all the sources and places of inspiration for the things we did for the party on Madi's Owl Bday Board.  You'll see several ideas we didn't do and all my pictures pinned there, too.

Have a GREAT weekend!!